Letters From Hollywood

Like many Sun Country- ites, my first real job was working at Hersheypark. I was just 15. I was a costume character – yes, a walking chocolate bar.

Thirty minutes outside in the heat, and 30 minutes inside an air-conditioned room … waiting. I don’t need to explain to the parents out there that downtime for a teenager, spells trouble.

Fast-forward almost ten years and not much has changed. Pranks are a regular for me at work now. I’m involved in most of them – on one end or the other. Some of the best pranks have been executed against me. When in doubt, laugh it out.

For over two weeks I couldn’t figure out why I kept seeing glitter everywhere. My girlfriend accused me of going to a strip club. No, my coworkers rearranged the drop-ceiling tiles so that a vent appeared directly over my head. They ran a tube from that vent into the office next door. They would fill it up with glitter and use compressed air to slowly pour it over me. The only reason I caught on is because someone got greedy and decided to use five times as much glitter as they should have. A Pennsylvania Blizzard worth of glitter. Hilarious.

Another favorite. Someone found a particularly silly picture of me wearing a pink shirt with a popped collar and a scarf, posing model-esque. It was printed, elaborately framed, and engraved with my name. For almost a year now this picture has been strategically placed through our campus. Its first appearance was inside a locked maquette display case on a tour hallway outside my office. It was hilarious to watch tour guides make up answers to the inevitable question, “Who is that?” My favorites were, “the father of sculpting,” “the founder of animation” and “some dead guy.” More famous appearances included the Studio Store, and the campus Starbucks. I’m told even Jeffrey Katzenberg has inquired about the photo. Needless to say, I’m widely recognized through the company.

This one has become legend. As you’ve heard me complain before, the roads in LA are overcrowded. So are the parking spaces. People are extremely combative about parking here, even at their own workplace.

I worked with a guy who would always leave his car keys on his desk. We’ll call him Bob. Returning from lunch one day, I noticed Bob’s car parked next to mine. With the help of two others, we preceded to steal his keys, move my car, and re-park his ACROSS two spaces. The idea was someone would send out an email to the company mailing list with the car’s make and model, Bob would realize it’s his and go move it back. Hilarity would ensue, and everyone would go back to work. When it was brought to Bob’s attention, he refused to believe it was his car and headed into a meeting. For the next hour, the company email blew up with furious commuters returning from lunch. The tipping point is when HR got involved in trying to track down the owner ... who, while at his meeting, had no idea this was going on.

Another coworker came in and announced that “Facilities is outside, calling a tow truck RIGHT NOW!” At this point, I could confess, and go move the car back myself. Since there was a large crowd of angry people standing around, I decided I liked my kneecaps and it was best to stay away.

I couldn’t let that car get towed. Which is why I decided to convince another coworker that Bob was the one playing the joke on the company, he didn’t realize the severity, and since he was in a meeting, someone should take Bob’s keys and move his car for him. It worked, but not before I needed to wring my shirt out.

Until recently, I didn’t realize just how much I took with me from somewhere as simple as Hersheypark. Through the years that fun work attitude has stuck with me. And I know I’m lucky. Not everyone has the luxury of being inside a fun environment all the time. But maybe, just maybe ... luck is what you make it.

No humans were hurt during the writing of this article.

Until next time, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.

Kemer